Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is ready with IATA COVID-19 ‘Travel Pass’ – but some hurdles remain

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is ready with IATA COVID-19 ‘Travel Pass’ – but some hurdles remain

Dubai: Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways will trial IATA's COVID-19 'Travel Pass' until the end of June before preparing for a rollout of the digital passport across its routes, said a top official. "We will summarize our learnings - there are a lot of things that need to come together to get the IATA Travel Pass rolled out globally,“ said Frank Meyer, Etihad's Chief Digital Officer. "It depends a lot on the roadmap of IATA (and) the number of labs it's onboarding - at the moment it's just a few labs in the UAE. The integration with immigration is important - integration of the Travel Pass with vaccination reports, wherever available, is important.“ All of these steps are on the roadmap for the platform's eventual rollout, but Meyer is not sure about when exactly it will happen. "We've been working with IATA; we've also worked with others who provide similar products. At the moment it's very difficult to predict timelines for the Travel Pass.“ The Travel Pass is loaded with all the COVID-19 related test and vaccine status of the passenger, and will help him or her ease through airport and customs checks. Meanwhile, Etihad has moved forward with its own